Monday, July 03, 2006

Idiot Vatican Proposal

Last week, senior Vatican official Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, who heads the group that proposes family-related policy for the Catholic Church, proclaimed that scientists involved in stem cell research using human embryos should be subject to excommunication from the church. These comments come close on the heels of a July 9th meeting to discuss the policy on stem cell research. Trujillo equated destroying an embryo with abortion.

It is actions like these that make me scratch my head when it comes to the Church. AIDS is destroying Africa, but the Church does not even want to consider loosening its condom policy. Then there's the example of Cardinal Law who, from his position in Boston, oversaw the worst scandal of priests sexually abusing children in recent history. His criminal neglect left the Archdiocese nearly bankrupt, forcing it to close dozens of schools and curtail numerous services. But, rather than be subject to criminal prosecution (and, perhaps, a prison confinement where he may have learned firsthand what horrors those wbused children had to endure), the Vatican promotes him.

Now, there's a proposal to excommunicate scientists who are trying to discover ways to rid people of diseases, such as diabetes and Parkinson's. These scientists are not out there recruiting men and women to create embryos so they can be destroyed. The embryos in question are excess embryos from fertility clinics that are going to be destroyed at some point anyway. A policy of excommunicating scientists who work on the stem cells from these fetuses is not going to change the ultimate fate of the fetuses. The fertility clinics are not going to store them forever.

I hope the Church decides that this policy is like trying to kill a fly with a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, it becomes another policy that will either drive members away from the Church, or, more likely, just continue to only follow the doctrine that they like -- which certainly doesn't build a solid relationship with the church.